it reminded us that bad decisions in washington can get in the way of economic rugrats. we agree -- economic progress. we agree that we cannot cut our way to prosperity. it has not worked in the past and it will not work today. it could weaken our economy. a could cost us jobs. not just now, but in the future. what we need is a balanced approach. an approach that says let's cut would we can afford, but make the investments we cannot afford to live without. investment in education, research thomas development. -- of research, development. republicans and democrats have worked together to reduce our deficit by $2.5 trillion. that is a good start, but to get the rest of the way, we need a balanced set of reforms. for example, we need to lower the cost of health care like programs like medicare. we cannot pass the burden. these reforms must go hand-in- hand with eliminating excess spending in our tax code so that the wealthiest cannot take advantage of loopholes and reductions that are not available to most americans. 2012 can be a year of solid growth and more jobs and high